How can the payer reconcile local news quietly

According to PNAS Nexus, a newly pioneering study, with digital paid Volos to become the norm of online news, they cleverly changed the story covered by the story, especially in smaller cities and communities in the younger population.

This comprehensive study analyzed the 17 -year content of newspapers in major United States, and revealed the measurement of local news reports to the transformation of subscribing models. Some communities have experienced nearly 20 % less local stories after paying the wall.

Digital dilemma

These discoveries are at a critical moment of the journalism. As newspapers have worked hard to survive in the era when technology giants capture most digital advertising revenue. Since the beginning of the 2000s, traditional news media has seen 75 % of the printing advertising situation, and the industry employment in the same period has decreased by 60 %.

In response, most newspapers have accepted the digital paid wall-restricting access to paid subscribers. However, this financial survival strategy seems to reshape the preferred priority in a way that may have a long -lasting impact on local democracy.

Number tells the story

After the implementation of the paid wall, the newspaper published an average of 5.1 % of local news reports. Under certain circumstances, the impact is more dramatic:

• Local news reports with smaller cities (below 500,000) have decreased by 12.8 %
• Local coverage of regions with the growth of young population decreased by 19.1 %
• “Soft News” (entertainment, lifestyle, and human interest stories) shows different models, and the overall decline is not high by 2.2 %
• Interestingly, the soft news of the young cities increased by 3.5 %, which indicates that the preferences of the audience have been strategically adapted

Young reader factors

This study shows that among residents under the age of 40, there are more noticeable changes in areas where more residents are in areas. The newspaper seems to strategically adjust its coverage to attract digital subscribers. Despite the sharp decline in local news in these markets, the increase in soft news reports pointing to the efforts of the young and digital readers attracted.

Democracy is endangered?

Researchers warn that although personal changes seem to be moderate, the cumulative effect may seriously affect the community’s participation and government responsibilities. This transformation has caused people to worry about maintaining diverse representative journalisms, while pursuing financial sustainability.

expect

The survey results show that news agencies are in an unstable boundary between survival and services. As digital subscriptions become the main source of income for many media, the pressure of production content attract paid subscribers to further reshape the local news environment.

This transformation of the news report model reveals the complex challenges faced by modern journalism when adapting to digital economics, and attempts to maintain its important role in democratic society.

This research was conducted by Paramveer S. Dhillon, Anmol Panda and Libby Hemphill, which analyzed the comprehensive data of American newspapers between 2006 and 2022.